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The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. For over three generations, the Academy has connected millions of people to great poetry through programs such as National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world; Poets.org, the Academy’s popular website; American Poets, a biannual literary journal; and an annual series of poetry readings and special events. Since its founding, the Academy has awarded more money to poets than any other organization.

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Iowa

Kate Northrop

You imagined yourself
There on the overpass
Leaning through snow
Further toward cars
Their outlines still dark
Their headlights
Locked by distance
Then opening as if
Cautiously the beams
Lengthening over the median
Onto leaves the underside
Of certain leaves
And the drivers inside
Each face described
By shadow each
Finally simple the skin
Lit by the vehicle's instruments
In the glow of the dash
The faces you'd dreamed of
Then gone beneath you
Leaning over the highway
Further toward cars
Toward headlights
Opening in the snow

The shadows of the couple
enter the dark field, cross
silent as a seam
having left at the center
a white box, white
as a box
for a birthday cake. Inside,
the baby.
Abandoned there
in the tall grass,
in the night wind,
he wants for everything: food, warmth,
a little
baby hope.
But the world
swirls